One of the Three

Daniel 3:7-8, "So at the sound of the musical instruments, all the people, whatever their race or nation or language, bowed to the ground and worshiped the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. But some of the astrologers went to the king and informed on the Jews."

If you grew up in Sunday School, odds are you've heard about the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These three men were faced with two options: bow down and worship a statue or be thrown into a blazing furnace. As we know, they chose to not bow down to the statue. Nebuchadnezzar became furious. He had the heat turned up and then had these men thrown into the fire.

A while ago, I heard a pastor give a sermon about this. Something from his sermon has stuck with me. He talked about how we need to have conviction about what we believe so that no matter what, we stand up even if God seemingly doesn't deliver us.

We know that God saved those three men that day, but look at what they said to Nebuchadnezzar even before being saved.

Daniel 3:16-18, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, 'O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn't, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.'"

These men had such strong convictions about what they believed that they held their ground knowing that God may or may not keep them from dying.

These men proved that their walk with God was strong.

The main thing that stood out to me when the pastor was giving his sermon about this was that the other people in this story were Jews. They were God's chosen people. I'm sure they knew that bowing to a statue was wrong. However, only those three men kept standing and refused to bow.

How many of us Christian men and women would stay standing? How many of us would have such strong conviction that even in the face of death, we refused to do something that went against what we believe.

After hearing this sermon, I now say, "I want to marry one of the three."

What I mean by this is that I don't just want to marry someone who is a Christian. They've prayed the sinner's prayer. They go to church week after week. They know the Bible front to back. I don't want to undermine these things, but my bigger question is this: Would they remain standing if everyone else bowed?

Would they stay standing when those around them said, "But everyone else is doing it?"

When everyone else bowed to the statue, these three men didn't. They stood standing and were determined that even if everyone else was doing it, they weren't. Even if this decision meant death, they were not going to bow.

As Christians, we need to ask ourselves these questions: Will we remain standing? Will we be one of the three, or will we choose to do what's more popular in our society? Will we choose to bow down or stay standing?

Dear Heavenly Father,

You've really spoke to my heart through this story and the sermon I heard about it a while back. Lord, in America, I haven't been faced with the threat of dying physically in order to stand up for the convictions that I have on my heart. No one has ever told me to bow down or die. However, I know that time may come. Even if it doesn't, there are other things in my life that have to decide whether to bow down or to die. Will I do what I know is right even when the world around me isn't? Will I follow You even if no one else follows? Help me be one of the three. In Jesus' Name.

Amen.